Self-monitoring roving frame



June 10, 1969 Y N, ET AL 3,448,492

SELF-MONITORING ROVING FRAME Filed May 15, 1967 United States Patent US. Cl. 19.23 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A roving frame having a monitoring means for monitoring the finished roving and for providing an electrical output proportional to the density of the roving. As disclosed, the monitoring means provides an electrical output proportional to each of the plurality of rovings simultaneously drafted by the roving frame and the roving frame is rendered inoperative by a cut-off means responsive to the monitoring means when the density of a roving is not within a predetermined range for a predetermined period of time. The monitoring means also provides an output to an accumulating means so as to provide a summary of the density of a selected length of a roving.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention is concerned with the roving of textile fibers. More particularly, the invention relates to a selfmonitoring roving frame for the roving of textile fibers.

Description of the prior art In the roving of textile fibers, it is necessary that the resulting roving be substantially uniform throughout its length. Any lack of uniformity in the roving throughout its length causes a corresponding lack of uniformity in yarn produced from the roving if the lack of uniformity is not subsequently corrected.

Uniformity of a roving has been difficult to achieve with prior art roving frames because variations in the operation of the roving frame or in the roving have been difficult to identify and correct. Moreover, there is no known apparatus or method in the prior art to determine the uniformity of a roving throughout its length. Thus, in subsequent operations, such as spinning, a non-uniform roving cannot be combined with another non-uniform roving so as to minimize their lack of uniformity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention disclosed herein overcomes these and other difiiculties encountered in the prior art in the roving of textile fibers by providing a roving having a weight per unit of length which varies only within a predetermined range of weights throughout its entire length and having variations in weight per unit of length within this range which are readily ascertained and sufiiciently small for the roving to be substantially uniform. Moreover, where the textile fiber being drafted is a synthetic or other fiber which has its properties improved by radiation, the invention provides, as an incident to drafting, a roving for subsequent processing into a textile fabric having radiation improved properties.

These improvements in the roving of textile fibers are provided by a roving frame having a monitoring means for monitoring the weights of unit lengths of each of a plurality of rovings as the rovings are produced by the roving frame, cut-off means responsive to the monitoring means for rendering the roving frame inoperative when the weights of a plurality of successive unit lengths of a roving do not fall within a predetermined range of weights, and an accumulating means responsive to the monitoring means for accumulating the weights of the unit lengths of a roving. The monitoring means includes a radiation element and radiation responsive element positioned on opposite sides of each of the plurality of rovings to provide voltage outputs to the cut-off means and to the accumulating means proportional to the weight of a roving passing between a radiation element and a radiation responsive element as determined by the portion of a beta ray beam absorbed by the roving.

It is the monitoring means with the cut-off means which provides a roving frame which produces a substantially uniform roving, since the cut-off means will terminate the operation of the roving frame upon sensing a roving having a length of a weight below the desired weight. In addition, when the energy level of the beta ray beam is maintained within the appropriate range, it is the monitoring means which serves not only to provide a voltage output representative of the weights of unit lengths of a roving, but also as a means for improving those properties of fibers in a roving which are responsive to improvement by radiation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING These and other features and advantages of the invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings in which like characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout and in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a roving frame having the monitoring means of an embodiment of the invention disclosed herein;

FIG. 2 is a schematic circuit diagram showing an embodiment of the invention disclosed herein.

DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT These figures and the following detailed description disclose a specific embodiment of the invention but the invention is not limited to the details disclosed since it may be embodied in other equivalent forms.

The invention disclosed herein may be most easily understood in terms of a conventional roving frame 1 having a bar 2 over which slivers 14 pass from cans (not shown), into conventional drafting means 3, which align the separate fibers in slivers 14 from a random arrangement into a linear arrangement in which the separate fibers are parallel. In addition, the slivers -14 are reduced in diameter and become more dense after passing through drafting means 3. The smaller but more dense rovings 7 are then passed over a bar 8 and wound onto a plurality of bobbins 9. It is because the roving frame 1 embodying the invention disclosed herein is generally conventional in construction and mode of operation that the roving frame 1 is only generally shown and that its other conventional components are not described.

However, unlike conventional roving frames, a roving frame 1 embodying the present invention includes a plurality of radiation elements 15 and a plurality of radiation responsive elements 16 which together serve to provide a monitoring means for monitoring the weight of unit lengths of the rovings 7. In the embodiment of the present invention, the radiation elements 15 and the radiation responsive elements .16 are positioned on metal strips 5 and 6 across which the rovings 7 move from the drafting means 3 over guide 8 onto bobbins 9. Moreover, in the present invention, each radiation element 15 is arranged in a conventional manner to provide a beta ray beam through a roving 7 and toward a radiation responsive element 16 from a nuclide such as Carbon 14, Promethium 147 or Calcium 45.

Each radiation responsive element 16 is a beta scintillation detector and includes a phospor plate '17 positioned for one side to be impinged upon by that portion of a beta ray beam passing through a roving 7. In addition, each radiation responsive element 16 includes a photo-electric cell 18 positioned on the opposite side of a phosphor plate 17 from that side of the phosphor plate 17 upon which a Beta ray beam impinges.

Those skilled in the art will understand that a phosphor plate 17 is rendered luminous by the impinging of a beta ray beam upon it, and that the degree of luminosity is dependent on the strength of the beta ray beam impinging upon the phosphor plate 17. With the positioning of a radiation element .15 and a radiation responsive element 16 on opposite sides of a roving 7, the intensity of the beta ray beam impinging upon the phosphor plate 17 is inversely proportional to the weight or density of the increment of length of the roving 7 passing between the radiation element and the radiation responsive element 16 at any given moment. This is because the density of the roving 7 determines the portion of a beta ray beam which is adsorbed by the roving 7 so that it does not impinge upon a phosphor plate 17 and because the density of a roving 7 is proportional to its weight.

Each photo-electric cell 18 is conventional in that it provides a voltage output which is proportional to the luminosity of a phosphor plate 17. Therefore, since the luminosity of a phosphor plate 17 is proportional to the weight of a roving 7 passing between a radiation element 15 and a radiation responsive element 16, the voltage output of each photo-electric cell 18 is proportional to the weight of that increment of length of a roving 7 between a radiation element 15 and a radiation responsive element 16 at any given moment.

It has been found that energy levels of the radiation elements .15 may be as low as onemilliroentgen per hour and still provide a beta ray beam which provides a voltage output from a radiation responsive element 16 which is inversely proportional to the weight of a roving 7. However, it has also been found that energy levels of a radiation element 15 may be substantially higher and that at some energy levels, the beta ray beam not only serves to provide a voltage output from a radiation responsive element 16 which is inversely proportional to the weight of a roving 7, but also serves as a means for inducing desirable changes in the properties of fibers forming the roving 7. For example, if the rovings 7 are formed of certain synthetic fibers and the radiation level of the radiation elements 15 are properly selected, the monitoring means provided by the plurality of radiation elements -15 and the plurality of radiation responsive elements 16 serves to provide substantially uniform rovings 7 for subsequent processing into textile fabrics which are grease resistant. The radiation elements 15 and the radiation responsive elements 16 are not described in greater detail as they are conventional and will be understood by those skilled in the art once the present invention is understood.

That embodiment of the present invention disclosed herein also includes a conventional integrating network 20 to which the voltage outputs of the radiation responsive elements 16 are continuously fed and which serve to accumulate and integrate the voltage outputs from each radiation responsive element 16 over a predetermined interval of time so as to provide an integrated voltage output corre sponding to each roving 7 having an amplitude inversely proportional to the weight of that unit length of the roving 7 which passed between a radiation element 15 and a radiation responsive element 16 during the predetermined interval of time. The integrated voltage output corresponding to each roving 7 is fed from the integrating network 20 at the end of each interval of time to a conventional computer 21 as an analogue input and the computer is programmed in conventional manner to convert each analogue input to a decimal equivalent and to accumulate the decimal equivalents of the plurality of successive inputs corresponding to a particular roving 7.

The computer 21 is also programmed in conventionl manner to compare each of the plurality of decimal equivalents to a decimal standard and to classify each decimal equivalent in accordance with its deviation from the decimal standard. When a predetermined number of successive deviations corresponding to a particular roving 7 are not within a predetermined range of deviations, the computer 21 provides a cut-off pulse to a relay 23 operatively in the main control circuit (not shown) of the roving frame 1.

The relay 23 is conventional and in response to the cut-off pulse from the computer 21, the relay 23 opens contacts (not shown) in the main circuit (not shown) of the roving frame '1 so as to render the frame 1 inoperative. The contacts (not shown) are manually closed to restart the roving frame 1 after the cause of the cut-off pulse has been determined. It will be understood that since each deviation of a decimal equivalent from the decimal standard is representative of the amount by which the weight of a unit length of a roving 7 varies from that weight of a unit length of roving 7 which corresponds to the decimal standard, the roving frame 1 is rendered inoperative when the weights of a predetermined number of successive unit lengths of one of the plurality of rovings 7 are not within that predetermined range of weights or densities of a roving 7 corresponding to the predetermined range of deviations. It will also be understood that the rendering of the roving frame 1 inoperative when the weights of successive unit lengths of a roving 7 are not within a range of weights, insures that all rovings 7 produced by the roving frame 1 are always substantially uniform throughout their lengths or the roving operation will be terminated.

The computer 21 also provides outputs to a printer 22 showing the decimal equivalents of a successive unit lengths of each of the plurality of rovings 7 grouped in terms of their deviations from the decimal standard. Thus, the printer 22 provides a summary of the uniformity of the rovings 7 along their total lengths, within a range of weights, relative to the uniformity of a roving 7 which corresponds to the decimal standard.

It will be understood that the integrating network 20, the computer 21, and the relay 23 serve as a cut-off means for rendering the roving frame 1 inoperative when a plurality of a successive units lengths of a roving 7 are not within a predetermined range of weights. Similarly, it will be understood that the integrating network 20, the computer 21, and the printer 22 serve as an accumulating means for accumulating the plurality of voltage outputs from each of the plurality of radiation responsive elements 16 and for providing an indication of the uniformity of the total length of the roving 7 on each bobbin 9.

It will also be understood that not only are the integrating network 20, computer 21 and the printer 22 conventional, but they are merely representative of a variety of devices suitable for use as a cut-ofi means and as an accumulating means which will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art once the invention is understood. They have been used to disclose an embodiment of the invention because they do not require a detailed description for understanding of the invention and because of the flexibility provided by a conventional computer.

However, it will now be understood that regardless of the particular devices used to provide an embodiment of the present invention, the invention is a self-monitoring roving frame 1 having a monitoring means to provide a voltage output representative of the weight of each roving 7 being produced by the roving frame '1, a cut-off means responsive to the voltage output for rendering the frame 1 inoperative when the weights of a predetermined number of successive unit lengths of a roving 7 are not within a predetermined range of weights, and an accumulating means responsive to the voltage output for accumulating the voltage output over an interval of time to provide a representation of the uniformity of the total or any selected length of a roving 7. It is a roving frame 1 having this combination of a monitoring means, a cut-off means and an accumulating means with its other conventional components which provides a selfmonitoring roving frame which avoids the difficulties encountered with prior art roving frames. This is because a roving frame 1 embodying the present invention is rendered inoperative for application of preventive maintenance procedures before variations in the operation of the roving frame 1 or in the feeding of the sliver to the roving frame 1 result in the frame 1 producing a roving 7 which is not substantially uniform throughout its length. In addition, the roving frame 1 provides rovings 7 for subsequent processing into a textile fabric which can be readily combined with each other for even greater uniformity because of the uniformity of each along its total length is known. Further, the roving frame 1 provides rovings 7 for subsequent processing into a textile fabric which has desirable radiation induced properties that cannot be obtained in any manner with prior art roving frames.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many variations may be made in the embodiments chosen for the purpose of illustrating the present invention without departing from the scope and spirit thereof as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. Roving frame for drafting slivers comprising a means for producing a roving from a sliver, a monitoring means incluidng a radiation element and a radiation responsive element responsive to the density of said roving passing therebetween for providing an output proportional to the density of a length of the roving, the output being a voltage output inversely proportional to the density of said roving between said radiation element and the radiation responsive element, means for accumulating and integrating said voltage output over each of a plurality of intervals of time corresponding to predetermined unit lengths of said roving to provide a plurality of integrated voltage outputs and means for receiving and comparing the plurality of integrated voltage outputs of said accumulating and integrating means to a predetermined standard for rendering said frame inoperative when a predetermined number of said plurality of integrated voltage outputs are not within said predetermined standard.

2. Roving frame of claim 1 wherein said roving includes fibers responsive to radiation and wherein the radiation element of said monitoring means includes means for inducing radiation induced changes in said fibers.

3. Roving frame of claim 1 wherein said radiation element provides a beta ray beam.

4. Roving frame of claim 1 wherein said monitoring means in constructed and arranged to simultaneously respond to the density of a plurality of rovings and simultaneously provide an output proportional to the density of a length of each of said plurality of rovings.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,805,449 9/1957 Martin 19-240 2,942,303 6/1960 Bossen et al. 19-240 2,950,508 8/1960 Locher 19-240 2,964,803 12/1960 Robinson 19-240 2,981,986 5/1961 Neil 19-240 2,989,796 6/1961 Ashe 19-.25 3,305,688 2/1967 Lamparter 19-239 3,109,204 11/1963 Linnert et al. 19-241 DORSEY NEWTON, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 19-239 

